Meaningful Innovation 3

The Japanese government officially announced that Japan is a "full-fledged" aging society today, highlighting data that 10% of the population is at least 75 years old. With the lowest birthrate in the developed world (less than 1.3), Japan's population is not only facing a downward trend but a severe case of silveritis as well.

Enter the robots.

Japan is well-known for its robots - mostly from anime but also in factories and real-looking-hot-chick-auto-receptionists - but this may be one of the more useful applications.

Robotics for seniors. This is the aptly titled Experimental Walking Assists Device by Honda. (Assimo is finally paying off?)

And this baby is the HAL-5 developed at Tsukuba University (a Japanese University actually came up with something!). Part of the idea was to help senior and disabled caretakers move their patients around (better than putting in ramps in all those buildings I guess).

HAL-5 retails for about $15K plus maintenance.